The Leopard's Prey: A Raj Biswas Investigation

It began like any other day, with Raj Biswas sipping his morning tea and perusing the newspaper. A headline caught his eye: "Man-Eating Leopard Terrorizes Jalapuranagar." The article detailed a series of attacks by a rogue leopard from the nearby Jalapuranagar Wildlife Sanctuary. The latest victim, a local barber named Dulal Roy, had been killed by the beast just the day before, bringing the death toll to eleven. The phone rang, shattering the morning calm. It was a friend of Dulal's, voicing suspicions that dulled the edge of grief. He didn't believe a leopard was to blame for Dulal's death. Instead, he suspected a darker plot woven by human hands, masked by the fear of the beast. With his trusted friend Naresh Dutta by his side, Raj set out for Jalapuranagar. The village was a tapestry of terror and suspicion, its threads frayed by the unseen predator.